Accounting

Our accounting program, ranked No. 4 in the country by College Factual, is renowned for educating professionals who play a crucial role in the success of their organizations. Our graduates are prepared to excel because they possess first-rate communication skills and understand a complete range of business functions.

At Bryant, case competitions like the PwC Challenge, held on campus Oct. 26, require students to apply analytical thinking, fact-based decision making, and collaboration to actual business scenarios.

This year's case competition, held on campus Oct. 26, concerned the illegal dumping of hazardous materials by a corporation and ways to restore the company’s public image after the news of environmental harm went public.

As part of the challenge, team members were required to work independently to review the business case, develop a solution, and create a presentation. Each team delivered a solution to a panel of high-level PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) professionals, who offered feedback after each presentation. Team success was measured using three criteria: critical thinking, collaboration, and communication skills.

“Students gained valuable insight into our profession, our firm, and the issues faced by global business leaders,” says PwC Tax Partner and Bryant Trustee Bob Calabro ’88, who served as one of the judges.

PwC employs more than 300 Bryant University alumni, 19 of whom are current or retired partners. They volunteer at the University on many fronts including guest lecturing and serving on the Accounting Advisory Board and Bryant’s Board of Trustees.

This marked the 12 th consecutive year that Bryant has participated in a PwC competition. The company, which previously sponsored the PwC x-TAX Competition, redesigned the event this year. Of the 160 Bryant students who applied, 40 were selected to compete. Teams of four to five students were chosen from a number of disciplines, including Accounting, International Business, Finance, and Applied Analytics.

Participants benefited from mentorship by PwC employees during the challenge. They also had the opportunity to enter the PwC talent pipeline and gain access to special events, programs, and internship/career opportunities.

The winning team, whose members each won $250, included:

Isabel Anglero ’19 (San Juan, Puerto Rico)

Jonathan Dillman ’18. (Hudson, NH)

Nicholas Leitkowski ’19 (Colchester, CT)

Cameron SanClemente ’19 (Franklin, MA)

Cindy Wu ’19 (Quincy, MA)

Professor of Accounting Michael Lynch, J.D., has led the PwC-Bryant case competitions for the last 10 years. “It is rare that a faculty member learns from students. However, each year the PwC Challenge teams continue to impress me with their novel solutions to complex business problems,” says Lynch.